Sunday, January 19, 2014

2013 has been probably my best reading year so far in the history of my 17 years of life. There were so many amazing books that I read, series that I finished, and books that I shed a good amount of tears for. Turned out that the tear jerkers ended up being my favorites? Haha, classic.

Anyway, on goodreads for 2013, my goal was to read 65 books. Did I complete it? I sure did! In fact, I finished my goal by reading a whopping 86 books. The most amount of books I've read ever within a year. I just feel so proud of myself for going over and above my goal. I didn't think I could really do that. The thing that I think gave me the motivation to read as many books as I did was all the awesome fangirling and book reading friends I've made this past year. For once, I didn't feel that alone, & it was super encouraging.

Now, without further ado, I present to you all... THE TOP 13 BOOKS I READ IN 2013!

13. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

It was a hit out of the park. Let's be honest here.

12. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Great sequel. Great plot twist. Edge of my seat for sure.

11. Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Frex frex frex frex frex frexing amazing.

10. Prodigy by Marie Lu

But June. But Day. But character development. But rip out my heart why don't ya?

9. Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter

Freaking Cameron Morgan, that's what.

8. Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

This book made the previous two look like lost children.

7. Shadow and Bone by Leigh BardugoMalina though

6. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

A beach house. Two brothers. And you all live in that same beach house for a summer? SIGN ME UP.

5. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Can I have a Cricket? May I have a Cricket?

4. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Best ending in the history of best endings ever and best male character that ever lived *cough cough* Will Herondale.

3. The Selection by Kiera Cass

Maxon Schreave. That is all.

2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I've never related to a book more than this one. Obviously.

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Cried like a baby. Too beautiful for words. If you haven't read this, what are you doing with your life?

Friday, January 17, 2014

So, this has been my first post in a very long time, but I wanted to share with you all some of the bookish things I have done since I last wrote here. I thought I would share the biggest and most exciting thing that happened to me October 26, 2013. I met Veronica Roth!

So her book, Allegiant came out back in October & I was able to convince my dad to buy me a ticket. This was during the summer. When school started, one of my awesome friends, Eunbee, informed me that she was going too! So, we carpooled, got in line 4 hours early & we were one of the first 20 people there out of 1000 people. We met some really awesome people in line and we talked to them for pretty much the whole day.

Ignore my dumb finger

The night before, one of my favorite booktubers, TheBookTuber, was tweeting that he would be at the event. Eunbee and I are both avid watchers of BookTube, so naturally, I tweeted him saying, "Hey! I'll be there!" And thus, my fangirling reached it's high. He came 2 1/2 hours before the event started & as he was checking out the front of the line, me and my friend started yelling and waving (and flailing our arms according to Tiernan) and he's a pretty awesome dude. He ended up hanging with us the whole day and by the end of that fantastic day, we were all friends. I mean, we bought popcorn together so that basically seals the deal.

Anyway, while we were waiting in line (Me, Eunbee, and Tiernan) a group of girls walked by us and we started talking. They were a really great group, and now I'm really good friends with some of them. They're my fangirl friends and they make my day. Who knew meeting at the Allegiant Tour would introduce me to people EXACTLY like me who don't get bored of me talking about books all the time! One of them, Carolina, has a blog that you should check out if you have some spare time. I'll leave the link down below!

We all started talking about The Fault in Our Stars when all of a sudden, people were screaming around us. Apparently Veronica Roth walked RIGHT past us while she went into the building next to the venue. This was the place where I put my lawn chairs for waiting for four hours. For about an hour, all of us were tweeting and texting and taking pictures and basically staring at the door trying to find Veronica. She eventually came out, and then the idea of meeting her became real. This was actually happening.

The people running the event let us inside an hour early, and what do you know? The three of us got front row seats. FRONT FREAKING ROW. I didn't believe this was actually happening. But it did. I never get that lucky.

So, Margot from Epic Reads was interviewing Veronica, and since the event took place near Chicago (the location for her book, hello!) they had a livestream going on. It was pretty awesome. When they opened up questions to the audience, I immediately raised my hand, since I had a question pre-planned. THEY CHOSE ME FIRST. Let me just say, I had way too many fangirling moments during this event. But, we were all fangirls/ boys. We were in our zone.

After the interview, Veronica and her brother, Karl Vincent Roth sang us a song that he wrote. Her brother! It's based on the book and it's such a beautiful song. I swear, after that day ended, I listened to that song on repeat over and over. It also made me tear up a little, because it made me think of Allegiant. Allegiant ruined me, but made my life. But, I think it was a HUGE mistake to read it the night before the event. I literally COULD NOT go to sleep for 2 hours after I read the book. I literally cried my eyes out for days after reading this book. If you've read it, you know why. If you haven't, get up off your butt and read it (but read Divergent and Insurgent first cause that's kinda important)!

The book signing portion was up next. While we waited for our numbers to be called to meet Veronica and have our books signed, the venue, which happened to be this amazing movie theatre started playing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, as a request of Veronica. The day just kept on getting better.

My ticket number was in the 100s so I got to meet her in the beginning. She was so nice and so sweet, but her response to what I told her was well....she just nodded her head. I told her about my feelings about the ending of Allegiant. She was really sweet, smiled at me, nodded her head, asked how I was doing, and said thank you. Then she signed my book. It didn't even feel real!

Eunbee and Tiernan's ticket numbers were both in the 800s so I got to stay at the event a little longer than planned and watch Harry Potter with them.

The event was one of my favorite memories of 2013, and definitely one of the best days I've ever had in a long time. I met so many new people & I met one of my favorite authors. What could be better?

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture with her. I got a video of me talking to her while she signed my book, but that was it. Although right before Eunbee and I left, I got this picture. If you look really closely, THAT'S HER. I KNEW SHE WAS REAL.

Allegiant taught me a lot of things and really touched me as a reader. Veronica truly wrote a beautiful book series and made some choices I would not have been able to do myself if I was in her shoes. After the event, there was one thing she said that stuck in my mind which ended up being a central theme in the book I suppose...Be mended. This was an encouragement to me after finishing the book. This one single phrase made me think and made me learn. I hope the books you read do the same for you as well.